Central Greene cuts two dozen teachers
Over 100 people attended and a dozen spoke for an hour at Central Greene School District's meeting Tuesday night, where the board approved cuts of 24 teachers and other support staff.
Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter
Teachers and supporters hold signs opposing teacher furloughs ahead of Tuesday’s Central Greene School District board meeting.
Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter
Union members and supporters gather in prayer ahead of Tuesday’s Central Greene School District board meeting, where cuts to 26 teaching positions were approved.
WAYNESBURG – Central Greene Board of Education voted to furlough 24 teachers at its meeting Tuesday night, despite public comments lasting an hour pleading for them not to.
The only proposed cut the board declined to act on was the elimination of the vocational agriculture program, which was struck from the agenda.
The board entered a 40-minute executive session after listening to comments from the teachers’ union president, a former class president, tax collector, parents, teachers, students and taxpayers for an hour before voting on the proposed cuts and furloughs.
In a statement at the start of the meeting, Superintendent Helen McCracken said the “district has been faced with many challenges lately.”
McCracken added with the coal industry moving out of the district, so too would jobs and people. She said the district was committed to meeting student needs in a fiscally responsible manner.
She cited drops in district population and student enrollment, about 20 percent in the last decade. Elementary classes would return to a self-contained model, and the middle-school schedule would be altered, eliminating 11 core content teachers.
Teacher cuts totaled two first-grade teachers, two second-grade teachers, one third-grade teacher, one fourth-grade teacher, one fifth-grade teacher, a family and consumer science teacher at the middle school, one middle school art teacher, one library position, three middle school English/language arts positions, two middle school math positions, three middle school science positions, three middle school social studies positions and four special education teachers, one at the middle school and three at the high school.
Other positions cut include the district carpenter, director of maintenance, five aides, high school secretary, high school food service assistant/elementary library secretary and an elementary learning support teacher. The board created a building secretary/food service assistant role at the high school.
Board president Beth Hellems declined to answer media questions after the meeting, directing all inquiries to the superintendent.
“You can contact her tomorrow,” Hellems said.
McCracken quickly left the meeting room after the board adjourned their over two-hour meeting and could not be located for further comment.
Cuts of this magnitude are “unheard of in Central Greene,” said teachers’ union president Melissa M. Brant. “Things have changed in Central Greene, and I can’t say for the better.”
She asked the board during her remarks what other cost-savings measures they took before resorting to cutting teachers.
“As you can see, we have brought an army with us,” she said.
Central Greene Education Association union members and supporters gathered outside of Waynesburg Central High School ahead of the meeting, chanting, praying and comforting each other. Several wore green or union shirts. The audience was vocal during comments and the board vote, cheering at any “no” vote opposing the cuts.
Danielle Eddy, a high school math teacher, said she graduated from Waynesburg in 2004, inspired and energized to become a teacher.
“I implore you to make the right decision for our children,” she said, one of a dozen who expressed their concerns at Tuesday’s meeting. “Our children deserve us, all of us, each and every one of us. Our children deserve more, not less.”
Waynesburg tax collector Kayla Balint said she hears complaints from taxpayers, and people are fed up. More changes will just lead to more people deciding to leave the district, she said.
“I know many of you on the board, and I know in your hearts, you know better,” she said, imploring the board to reconsider.
Some special education teachers spoke, such as Alisha Lahew, accompanied by her daughter at the microphone. She worried she and her co-workers would be unemployable elsewhere if cut.
“You’re creating an environment that breeds chaos,” she said. “Please work with us.”
Jeromy Mackey, president of the Class of 2017, last addressed the board in 2016 about proposed teacher furloughs, amid a similar situation of fear, he said. He returned in support of those that helped him attain a full tuition talent-based scholarship at California University of Pennsylvania.
“Any teacher can mean that much to a student,” he said. “Look for any other solution but this.”
He said he called attention to specific teachers so the board would see them not as financial assets, but as names and livelihoods.
Brant, along with union officers, met with district officials Monday ahead of the board meeting.
She said the tone and structure of the meeting were unlike any other in her time as union president. Standards in this district with the arrival of new superintendent Helen McCracken are higher than ever before, Brant said ahead of the contentious board meeting.
Brant also raised the issue that administrators have not seen pay cuts and called the district “notorious for chopping right away at teachers.”
“When there’s less of us in classes, the class sizes are going to go up,” Brant said.
She also worried about fewer electives and special education teachers having less time with students that do not have an individualized education program.
Contract negotiations
Heated and lengthy teacher contract negotiations finally concluded near the end of 2016 after Central Greene educators had been working without a contract for over a year. Talks of teacher furloughs during that process threatened to eliminate eight positions and the jobs of six teachers due to budget constraints. Those cut Tuesday were many of the same roles on the line previously.
Negotiations stalled after the board rejected a proposal that members from each side’s bargaining committee thought would receive approval full board approval.
The contract finally agreed upon would give teachers an average salary increase of about 4.3 percent over five years. The district would see savings through health insurance changes, school officials said at the time, though Brant said for many teachers, the health insurance costs nearly equaled or outweighed any pay increase.
“We took concessions in our last contract,” Brant said. “We’ve taken concessions, and that’s what we want people to understand.”